Cultures Connecting

-12/08: Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Catholic) -12/08: Bodhi Day (Rohatsu) (Buddhist) -12/12: Day of Our Lady of Guadalupe (Mexican Catholic) -12/14-22: Hanukkah (Chanukah) (Jewish) -12/16-24: Simbang Gabi (Filipino Catholic) -12/16-24: Las Posadas (Latin American) -12/21: Yaldā Night (Persian) -12/21: Winter Solstice/Yule (Neo-Pagan) -12/26-01/01: Kwanzaa (African American)

December is Universal Human Rights Month and it's time to look at our Diversity Calendar when scheduling meetings and events so they don't conflict with culturally significant dates. Visit our website at culturesconnecting.com/calendars to download your own Diversity Calendar!

Foxycut, a Salon and Thriving Cultural Community Hub Photography, illustration, makeup artistry, and multimedia production are just some of the careers Miguel Vigil could list on his resume, but one career has remained constant throughout his life―hairs...

We interview community member Miguel Vigil who runs Foxycut Salon in Georgetown. More than a salon, Foxycut is a cultural community hub that supports people, artists and so much more. Visit our blog to read more and support their GoFundMe.
www.culturesconnecting.com/post/foxycut...

Re-Socializing Liberals and The Left We Need a Design and Solutions Oriented Politics to Defeat Authoritarianism

The left's critiques aren't extremism - they're advanced warning systems about system breakdown. Including radical voices isn't dangerous - excluding them is what enables fascist alternatives. antiauthoritarianplaybook.substack.com/p/re-sociali...

Black Philanthropy Month in bold letter with two black hands clasped in front of a black background.

Did you know August is Black Philanthropy Month? Today, 8/28 is National Black Giving Day. Black households donate a higher percentage of their household income than other groups, despite the racial wealth gap. Learn more on our blog: www.culturesconnecting.com/post/nationa...

Intersectionality Awareness Month in light gray repeated throughout image with one line in black. Colorful overlapping bubbles in the background.

August is Intersectionality Awareness Month. Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term in 1989 as a legal concept to describe the overlapping and interconnected systems of discrimination based on social categorizations. This month was established organically over time as it became a mainstream concept.

Diversity Calendar 2025-2026, printable and Google versions. Includes holidays, events, diverse group illustration. Light green background.

Our Diversity Calendar is filled with significant cultural dates you can use when scheduling events and important meetings. You can download a printable PDF version OR add the dates to your Google Calendar. Visit our website to down either or both versions. culturesconnecting.com/calendars.

Diversity Calendar 2025-2026 cover and months. Includes August to November details. Bold fonts, geometric patterns, and diverse cultural icons.

The Diversity Calendar covering August 2025 to July 2026 is finally here to support all organizations in creating culturally responsive environments where everyone feels valued and respected. Available as a printable PDF. Visit culturesconnecting.com/calendars.

Drawing of a crown crossed out and NO KINGS June 14,2025. MASS PROTEST in big letters with Seattle Rally & March below. Details as listed in description.

No Kings nationwide mass protest is Saturday, June 14th. The Seattle Rally & March will be at Cal Anderson at noon, with a march to Seattle Center at 1pm. ASL Interpretation Provided. Visit nokings.org for a protest near you.

Understanding the Political Climate of Resistance, part of Advancing DEIBelonging Workshop Series. Calendar with June 12 circled, with Reminder and workshop date and time on Zoom.

The first of our workshop series is this Thursday, June 12 at 9-12pm PT/12-3pm ET. This is for anyone who wants to show up for civil rights in an authentic way, learn more about anti-DEIB rhetoric so you know how to respond, and what you can and can't do to move DEIB forward. lnkd.in/gs7de59f

June Diversity Calendar in large letters. Calendar dates on light green background. -6/01-03: Shavuot (Jewish) -6/04-09: Hajj (Islamic) -6/06-07: Eid-ul-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) (Islamic) -6/08: Pentecost (Christian) -6/08: Día de los Niños (Latin American) -6/12: Philippine Independence Day (Filipino) -6/12: Loving Day (United States) -6/19: Juneteenth (United States) -6/20: Summer Solstice/Litha (Neo-Pagan) -6/26-7/25: Muharram (Al Hijrah New Year) (Islamic) -6/28: International LGBTQ+ Pride Day (International)

It's a new month so check our Diversity Calendar to make sure your events/meetings don't fall on significant dates! June is also National Immigrant Heritage, LGBTQ+ Pride, and Caribbean American Heritage Month!

The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook | Scot Nakagawa | Substack By Scot Nakagawa of The 22nd Century Initiative. Click to read The Anti-Authoritarian Playbook, by Scot Nakagawa, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscribers.

Do you read Scot Nakagawa, of the Anti-Authoritarian podcast and @22ci.bsky.social, substack? We do and found his post "Don't Give Up on DEI" helpful for effectively engaging in conversations about DEIBeloning. We included it as a resource in our latest newsletter. tinyurl.com/667frfpr

The 2nd edition of the book we use for Train the Trainer workshops is being released in a few months. The new edition has several new sections including facilitating virtually,
co-facilitation, anchor questions, and more!

Join our Brave Space Builders list to get previews by DMing us your email.

Advancing DEIBelonging Workshop Series As part of Cultures Connectings’ continued commitment to fostering welcoming, inclusive communities where everyone experiences belonging, we invite you to join

This workshop series are an opportunity to explore ways we can continue nurturing diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in ways that are thoughtful, human-centered, informed, and responsive to the moment. Take 1, 2, or all 3 sessions at a discount. Sliding scale tickets. tinyurl.com/t7uyda2t

Creating a More Equitable Restaurant Model: Interview with Seth and Zachary Pacleb of Pidgin Cooperative “Restaurants have always had the potential to be very toxic and inequitable, very hierarchical. Kitchen brigade is built off of the military and so it's very top down…With this [cooperative] model, th...

We talk to the Pacleb brothers about about the challenges of the restaurant industry, it's harmful culture and treatment of workers, and the ways they are hoping to do doing things differently with the opening of their worker-owned restaurant . Read the interview! tinyurl.com/37htspb4

Urgent action needed: Submit public comments to oppose the new US Rule that goes into effect on April 11th and requires immigrants to "register" with the U.S. government.

Click on the link for instructions and a script. It takes only a few minutes.
act.surj.org/a/action-hou...

Curvy road with title, "Moving forward with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging." Icons and phrases along the road: "Come together," "Center on our values," "Stay focused," "Understand ourselves & each other," "Show our collective power," "Celebrate wins" on colorful a path.

What can we do to stay hopeful, take action, and move forward with diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging? Here are some ways we can move together with an emphasis on community, centering our values, and using our collective power.

What other elements do you think we need?

Resources for Navigating the Current Political Environment Legal Guidance for Racial Equity AdvocatesThe Othering & Belonging Institute has released a document to assist racial equity advocates navigate their work through the legal landscape. The guide explai...

Navigating the complex political environment can be challenging so we're with resources to help you. Visit our blog to read about the resources in our latest newsletter issue. Be sure to subscribe to receive our bi-weekly newsletter directly to your inbox.
www.culturesconnecting.com/post/resourc...

3/05-4/17: Lenten Season (Christian) 4/02: World Autism Awareness Day (International) 4/06: Rama Navami (Hindu) 4/06: National Tartan Day (Scottish American) 4/11: National Day of Silence United States 4/17: Maundy Thursday (Christian) 4/12-20: Passover (Pesach) (Jewish) 4/13-16: Bun Pi Mai (New Year) (Laotian) 4/13-19: Holy Week (Christian) 4/14: Vaisakhi (Sikh)

4/14-16: Cambodian New Year (Christian) 4/18: Good Friday (Christian) 4/18: Orthodox Good Friday (Christian Orthodox) 4/20: Easter (Christian) 4/20: Orthodox Easter (Christian Orthodox) 4/20-21: First Day of Ridván (Bahá'i) 4/22: Earth Day (International) 4/23-24: Yom HaSho’ah (Jewish) 4/28-29: Ninth Day of Ridván (Bahá'i) 4/31-5/01: Twelfth Day of Ridván (Bahá'i)

It's a new month which means taking a look at our Diversity Calendar to look at significant dates to consider when planning meetings or events to create greater inclusion.

April is Autism Acceptance, Arab American Heritage, and Celebrate Diversity Month.

Re-examining Language: 'Colorblindness' and Disability Language is a reflection of our societal norms, cultural beliefs, values, and even identities. As a result, language is ever evolving. About 5,000+ new words are added each year to our lexicon, while ...

Do you use the term "colorblind" in racial equity work? Something to consider is how it's harmful language to disability spaces because it associates "blindness" with ignorance. Read our blog post about the use of the term and possible ways forward.
tinyurl.com/2v2jdfn8

March 2025 Issue 2 Re-Examing Language: 'Colorblindness' & DisabilityLanguage is a reflection of our societal norms, cultural beliefs, values, and even identities. As a result, language is ever evolving. "Colorblind" is...

Explore our latest issue where we dive deep into the conversation around 'Colorblindness' & Disability Language. We also talk about the economic boycotts of Nestle and how to rely less on Amazon.
Read more: wix.to/JwciIfP
Sign up for our newsletter: tinyurl.com/yx6dbxyj

A Letter to Our Community & Four Tenets to Guide and Ground Us Dear Community Members, We wanted to take a moment to reach out to you and express our deepest gratitude for the work you have done in supporting justice, inclusion, and belonging for all people. Your...

To our valued community members: We want to take a moment to express our gratitude for your dedication and to share the four tenets that guide and ground us so that we can continue to do this diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging work.

www.culturesconnecting.com/post/a-lette...

Amazon & Nestle Boycotts and Strategies for Relying Less on Amazon Our team, as well as many of you, participated in the 24 Hour Economic Boycott organized by The People's Union. The next boycotts are: • Amazon: March 7-14 • Nestle on March 21-28.Nestle is a huge con...

The 24 Hour Economic Boycott continues with a boycott of Amazon this week. Join us in taking a stand against the reliance on giants like Amazon. Check out our latest blog post for strategies on how you can help the movement and shifting your purchasing power off Amazon.
wix.to/xqnQbXC

4. Expect people to meet your high standards and assure your belief and trust in them. An antidote to being stereotyped & treated with differing expectations. 5. Provide opportunities for leadership, acknowledge their unique challenges, and support. An antidote to lack of opportunity and contested leadership. Microvalidations is only part of a solution to address microaggressions. Education on identifying microaggressions in the workplace and learning how to have conversations about them is an important first step.

The strategies, along with the common experiences of marginalized groups are: 1. Acknowledge people and give them your full attention. An antidote to being ignored, dismissed, or not taken seriously. 2. Validate people’s identity and be open to learning about their stories and preferences. An antidote to Feeling like you have to hide parts of yourself. 3. Share with people their important contributions and achievements. An antidote to being overlooked, undervalued, and undercredited.

Text image explaining microvalidations as workplace tools promoting inclusion, countering microaggressions. Background is light with arrows. Text states: Microvalidations are subtle, positive acts or language that affirm and encourage people with marginalized identities within the workplace in order create a culture of belonging. They can be used as an antidote to Microaggressions, which are subtle slights and acts of exclusion directed at people with marginalized identities in the workplace that detract from creating a culture of belonging.

Microvalidations are one of the strategies we can employ to counteract microaggressions. The work of Roberts, Grayson, & Rosser offers 5 ways to employ microvalidations to address the impact of microaggressions on People of Color. See comments for the strategies.

Testimonials with white speech bubble on beige background with heart. Text: "I am so impressed by your insightful talk and teaching...I was a little concerned that our presenter was going to come in blazing ―though you blazed in a much different way―no less urgent, but much more empathetic and conscientious than I think I was expecting. You have created a really skillful and enthusiastic overview of why these efforts are meaningful in the big picture, and in the work of an organization like ours. So, sincere thanks for the clarity you provided and the positive energy around something that is being miscommunicated in certain quarters." Dave Tatro, Sound Generations.

Our Racial Equity Consultant Dr. JP Anderson has been facilitating his workshop "DEIB in the Age of Backlash" for organizations and recently received this feedback. This testimonial reflects our approach, which is to always center people and their humanity, with empathy and conscientiousness.

Tomorrow is March and it's Women's and Developmental Disability Awareness Month. Did you know we have a Diversity Calendar to guide you as your plan your organization's meetings and events so they are inclusive and don't fall on significant cultural dates? You can download it tinyurl.com/mv4hnffs

Text and headshot of Ilsa Govan and logo on cream background with green waves. Special offer in the corner with E-Learning Course, Talking About Race: Courageous Conversations for a Diverse & Inclusive Workplace with Ilsa Govan. $150 is crossed out with $99 next to it.

It's time to have those difficult conversations about race. We're discounting our e-course, Talking About Race, to provide you with a step by step guide to help. Enter courageous18 at checkout. culturesconnecting.thinkific.com/courses/talk...

White text on black background with title and directive on Friday 2/28. Organized by The People's Union.

If you have been feeling overwhelmed and want to take action, there is an economic blackout on the 28th. There should be no spending on corporate $$ and if you do spend, support local small businesses, particular Black owned. @intentionalist.bsky.social is a wonderful resource.

Hello Bluesky! As a DEIBelonging company committed to racial justice, we are moving away from Meta and would like to say hello to all of you here at Bluesky! Learn more about us at culturesconnecting.com.